updated 08:20 am EDT, Wed June 15, 2011

Millennial June ad share leans to BBerry and WP7

Millennial Media on Wednesday showed a surprising spike in mobile ad share from companies that have mostly been pushed down until now. Android and iOS were largely static versus April at 53 percent and 27 percent, but the BlackBerry and Windows Phone platforms both increased in May. A rise in BlackBerry Curve use put RIM up one point to 17 percent of ad traffic, and Microsoft surged an unusual 92 percent.

Android made a large stride, however, in paid apps. It grew from a disproportionately low 39 percent share of mobile ad revenue to 43 percent, nearly drawing even with iOS. Researchers saw the move as a sign app development was catching up to Android's market share, although outside studies have shown an iOS emphasis on paid apps that wouldn't show in the ad-focused Millennial figures.

Apple still held the top smartphone manufacturer and individual device positions at 30.84 percent and 16.53 percent share each, although these were noticeable drops from nearly 33 percent and 20 percent just a month earlier. Some of the gain could once again be blaimed on an unusual rise in BlackBerry sales, though Sprint was experiencing a resurgence. Both the first appearance of the Nexus S 4G on the chart (0.71 percent) and the improvement of the LG Optimus S (1.27 percent) gave the carrier unusual clout where Verizon was once the primary advocate for Android.

Outside of smartphones, the iPad continued to have strong growth and generated 29 percent more ad hits just in the past month. Tablets as a whole made up 29 percent of ad traffic with 70 percent being MP3 players. Apple has typically dominated non-phone share where Android makers have either struggled to get share or declined to participate.